This dissertation examines the interplay of music and leisure pursuits in nineteenth-century Ireland in the context of the Royal Irish Constabulary band. Established in 1861 under the leadership of Harry Hardy, this band held a prominent position in middle-class musical life, becoming a sought-after side-line entertainment at exhibitions, sporting events, coastal resorts, parks, charity events, banquets, and balls. The band constituted an important facet in the expanding leisure life of mid-nineteenth-century Ireland while also being a significant musical marker of police authority. This research documents the early years of the RIC band during the eleven-year tenure of Hardy. Conveying a visual and sonic representation of institutional power, this band nonetheless succeeded in endearing itself to the public, carving its own niche as Ireland’s national band. This dissertation contributes to the study of music in the second half of the nineteenth century, particularly to the new forms of popular music which were beginning to emerge in Ireland and Britain. It also contributes considerably to the much-neglected area of band music in Ireland and its contribution to popular entertainment. Most of this research is based on previously untapped primary sources, particularly newspaper articles and promotional material, building a clear profile of the place of the RIC band in nineteenth-century Irish society. This work is of a strong interdisciplinary nature and intersects with areas of nineteenth-century consumer and leisure culture previously unconsidered from a musicological viewpoint. This research has sought to provide a more balanced consideration of the RIC and its band, in contrast to other more polarised narratives. It thus positions itself alongside the initial steps being made by historians to voice the unspoken language surrounding the RIC. My work seeks to objectively examine the contribution of the RIC band to Irish society while also recognising its place in British musical life of that time. It joins an expanding musicological discussion on the interplay of Irish identity and music in the age of Fenianism and Home Rule, and contributes to the ongoing process of building an inclusive and unbiased picture of Irish society and culture in the middle decades of nineteenth-century Ireland.